Man, 65, dies in Tarrant County Jail two days after his arrest for trespassing
A 65-year-old man who was taken to the Tarrant County Jail on a charge of criminal trespassing died two days later.
Kenneth Ray Perry was taken to jail on Sept. 27. He was found unresponsive in his cell just before 6 a.m. on Sept. 29, according to a report that was recently filed with the Texas Attorney General.
Perry was declared dead by a responding medic at 6:25 a.m.
An autopsy is pending, and the Fort Worth Police Department’s Major Case Unit will investigate. All in-custody deaths are investigated by third-party agencies.
Perry is the ninth person to die in the jail’s custody this year.
Alvie Johnson Jr., 74, was found by jailers on Jan. 1 with a head injury. Johnson was unconscious and taken to John Peter Smith Hospital, where he was placed on life support, according to the Attorney General’s Office. He died two days later.
James Carrell New, 80, died on Feb. 19 after spending a month in the jail. He was transferred to JPS on Jan. 28 for hypothermia with chest pain. He tested positive for COVID-19 a week earlier. The medical examiner declined to perform an autopsy.
Also in February, Edgar Villatoro-Alvarez, 40, of Austin, died in the ICU after being transferred from the jail. A cause of death is not yet listed on the medical examiner’s website.
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office has not released any information about Villatoro-Alvarez’s death. Law enforcement agencies must provide information about in-custody deaths to the AG’s office. The filed report only says Villatoro-Alvarez was taken to JPS after “a medical emergency was called.”
The Fort Worth Police Department is investigating his death.
On June 17, Oh Young Park, 54, died by suicide in the jail. Park is the fourth man to die by hanging while inside the jail since 2020.
A week later, Thomas Simpkins, 70, died of heart failure. He had a previous diagnoses, according to the AG’s office.
Richard Marta, 50, was arrested in August and was taken to the hospital after he contracted COVID-19. He was treated for chest pains and hypertension, according to the attorney general. On Aug. 26, he had heart surgery was listed in critical condition after. His family made the decision to remove his ventilator, according to the report.
In July, Trelynn Wormley, 23, was found unresponsive in his cell. Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn told KXAS-TV that he died of an apparent fentanyl overdose, the station reported. Fort Worth police are investigating his death.
Lyonell Mitchell Jr., 72, died in John Peter Smith Hospital’s ICU on Sept. 14, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. A cause of death is not yet listed.
